Cornell University and Stanford University are competing for the environmental affections of New York City’s public officials as part of a contest for the design of a school of applied sciences. The Bloomberg-supported competition will end on October 28th and it promises to dole out $400 million in land and infrastructure improvements to the winning school. Each school is running an impressive campaign with a well developed infrastructure of “green technology”. Read on for more about the proposals.

Cornell University proposes a science graduate school on Roosevelt Island. What makes this school especially sustainable? The design calls for four acres of solar panels, 500 geothermal wells, and sustainable buildings. According to a NY Times article by Richard Pérez-Peña, this is only part of their plan, which includes 2 million square feet of development over several decades that would generate a potential 1.8 megawatts of power.

Stanford University’s proposal takes on a different approach. Their design calls for a decrease in energy use, the creation of marsh and recycling storm runoff. Both schools are vying over the same piece of land and both offer ecological and innovative solutions to dealing with energy consumption. We’ll just have to wait and see what officials decide in the selection process.